Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Annie Makes Soufflé

This past weekend, my wife cooked for me a delightful Gruyère soufflé and one of the best salads that I have ever eaten! Those of you who don't cook for a living have no basis for comprehending how wonderful this is, so just let me assure you that it is always fantastic when someone else cooks for you, especially someone who cooks as fabulously as my wife.

Gruyère Soufflé

This tale started last Thursday when I asked Ann in a casual text if we had any plans for Sunday, my day off and last day to rest before the circus which is Valentine's Day. She replied that we did not but that she was making yummy food for me. Score! I generally cook on Sundays because I want to. There are no other days of the week that I can really cook for her unless she were to come to the restaurant and then I wouldn't be really cooking just for her and she would be reminded painfully that I spend all my nights with my restaurant mistress instead of her. Suffice it to say that it is a huge deal for Ann to cook for me on a Sunday and that I was greatly anticipating it.

Greens with Pickled Red Onions and Warm Balsamic Dressing

This is one of the best salads I have ever eaten. But what a giant pain in the rear! Ann asked me to bring some ingredients home from the restaurant, but our communications were a bit garbled and the long and short of it is that we had to go back to the restaurant on Sunday to get micro-basil for the salad. And then I had to go back to get the prosciutto. I thought Ann was going to cry when we got back to the house to find that we had forgotten the prosciutto. And so I went back to the restaurant and made sure I grabbed a bottle of wine too, because all that running back and forth was not what I planned for my day off and I was a bit frazzled.

Back to the salad which comprised greens, basil, mint leaves, parsley leaves, red onions pickled in red wine vinegar, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto, toasted pine nuts, and a garlicky warm balsamic dressing. Absolutely fantastic. I had two helpings and ate the bulk of the leftovers in a wrap the next day.

Separating Eggs

Shaving Parmigiano

Just Coming out of the Oven

Dinner was fantastic! Nobody, not even a professional chef, could have made it any better.

And as for hike number 2 of our 52-hike challenge this year: Sunday afternoon saw a temperature of 15 degrees with windchill well below zero...

About Us

Ann and Ed wake up fiending for great coffee and thinking "What's for dinner tonight?" On our rare days off (Ed is the chef/owner of One Block West restaurant in Winchester, VA) we can be found on a trail in the Shenandoah Valley or nearby in Virginia, West Virginia, or Maryland. And after our hikes, we're looking for good food, wine, and craft beer.

Our kids are grown now and we are more free than we have been in 25 years to go, to be, to explore, and to flip a coin about which fork in the road we take next. Recent deaths of our parents remind us that life is short and that we should enjoy each day. This blog is a journal of our twists and turns as we consider each fork.